Benitez hits back at Gerrard over Liverpool criticism

Sean Longstaff scored twice as Newcastle United booked their EFL Cup final place after wrapping up a 3-1 aggregate victory over Southampton.

Magpies academy graduate Longstaff was the local hero at St James Park, where his boyhood club were 2-1 winners in the second leg to seal a first cup final appearance since 1999.

The midfielder s first-half brace – and his first home goals in nearly four years – sent Eddie Howe s side to Wembley, though they finished the contest with 10 men after Bruno Guimaraes late red card.

Che Adams scored a brilliant consolation for Southampton, who were denied a third final appearance in the competition.

IT S ALL OVER!!! WE RE IN THE CARABAO CUP FINAL!!!!!!

— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC)

The typically buo…

Robert Lewandowski says something has died within him at Bayern Munich, as the striker continues to push for an anticipated exit to Barcelona.

The Poland international, who has a year left on his contract with the Bundesliga champions, has repeatedly signalled his intent to leave Allianz Arena this summer.

Though no official confirmation has been made by the player, it appears Lewandowski is fixated upon a switch to Camp Nou in the next step of his decorated career.

A myriad of issues, from Bayern s reluctance to sell him through whether Barca can afford to pay any transfer fee, remain major obstacles to any such move.

But Lewandowski has continued to state he will not be in Bavaria next term, saying he desires to move on to discover new challenges.

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Juventus relied too heavily on Cristiano Ronaldo over the past three seasons, Leonardo Bonucci suggested after Wednesday s Champions League win over Zenit.

Ronaldo joined Juve in 2018 and helped the Bianconeri win Serie A twice, though they fell short of winning a 10th straight Scudetto last season.

The 36-year-old left Juve in August, heading back to Manchester United in a shock transfer. He hit the ground running at Old Trafford and, after going two games without a goal, scored the winner in the Red Devils 3-2 comeback victory over Juve s fellow Serie A side Atalanta midweek.

While Ronaldo spearheaded United s attack in Manchester, Juve moved onto nine points in Champions League Group H as Dejan Kulusevski s 86th-minute header sealed a 1-0 win over Zenit.

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Vicente Del Bosque has backed Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) president Angel Maria Villar to assume the vacant position left by suspended UEFA president Michel Platini. 

Platini, along with FIFA president Sepp Blatter, was suspended by the governing body s ethics committee for eight years for an  abusive execution of their positions.

Del Bosque, who has coached the Spanish national team since 2008, spoke of his admiration for Villar and backed him for the UEFA position. 

Villar as UEFA president? I hope so. For me, he should be where he feels happy, he told Radio Marca.

We appreciate each other mutually, and we have always got along well and we ve never had any problems.

These eight years have been a pleasure to work with the nat…

Pep Guardiola wants to see Kyle Walker and everyone at Manchester City behaving like adults but insisted he should not have to police their off-duty business like a strict father.

The City manager passed no public judgement on Walker s behaviour in a bar that led to negative headlines this week, other than to say it had been dealt with internally.

The England international was shown on CCTV footage, published by The Sun, with friends at a venue where he apparently pulled down his trousers.

It was alleged by the newspaper that Walker indecently exposed himself, with the incident said to have happened last Sunday. Cheshire Police is looking into the matter.

Guardiola said Walker can count on his support after a week in the spotlight and stressed he was avai…

Market: Lyon win

Odds: 2/5 @

With the 2022/23 Ligue 1 campaign opening up on Friday night, Lyon will welcome top-flight returners AC Ajaccio to the Groupama Stadium.

Starting with the hosts, signing off their pre-season preparations with a 2-2 draw against Italian heavyweights Inter Milan last weekend, Lyon will be looking to open the 2022/23 campaign with a flurry here. Although Les Gones might have failed to clinch another European finish last season, Head Coach Peter Bosz did see his side sign off their downbeat campaign with an eye-catching run. Along with ending last season s run with a 2-1 victory away at Clermont, the Whites mustered 12 points from their final five Ligue 1 matchups. With that run of form highlighted by a 3-0 romp away at Marseille, Lyon s…

Middlesbrough have signed former Chelsea midfielder Jon Obi Mikel until the end of the season, according to the Mail Online.

The thirty-one-year-old was without a club after being released by Chinese side Tianjin Teda, for whom he made thirty-one appearances across two seasons, scoring three goals.

Prior to his switch to China, the Nigeria international spent over a decade at Stamford Bridge racking up three hundred and seventy-four games in all competitions, scoring six goals.

During his time with the Blues he won two Premier League titles, three FA Cups, the League Cup, the Europa League and the Champions League.

He has so far been capped eighty-five times by his country, scoring six goals while with them he won the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations and w…

When Jack Grealish charged into the penalty area in the 87th minute at the Santiago Bernabeu late last season and saw his shot cleared off the line by Ferland Mendy, there seemed no way Manchester City would not be in the Champions League final.

They were 1-0 up in the semi-final second leg, 5-3 ahead on aggregate. Real Madrid had three minutes plus stoppage time to turn things around – even for a side who produced some memorable comebacks en route to the semi-finals, turning this tie around looked impossible.

Yet the tale unfolded in a matter of minutes, with City s Champions League aspirations dissolving for another season.

Over the course of the two legs, City were comfortably the better team and yet failed to advance to the final in Paris, where Madrid we…

Best Odds: 13/10

Bookmaker:

Turning their attention back to qualifying for this year s World Cup finals, Brazil will make the trip to the Estadio Rodrigo Paz Delgado on Thursday night when they meet Ecuador.

Ecuador

Starting with the hosts, while Ecuador might have endured a torrid run of form back in 2018 during their World Cup qualifying adventure, La Tricolor have continued to impress this time around. Last seen on competitive duties putting in a stellar display as they landed a 2-0 win against Chile on foreign soil, Gustavo Alfaro s men find themselves sat in pole position to clinch a spot at this year s finals out in the Middle East. Opening up Thursday s contest at the Estadio Rodrigo Paz Delgado sat third in the table, the Yellows have continued to gain …

Australia made it nine World Cup qualifying wins in a row on the road to Qatar 2022 with a straightforward 3-0 triumph over China at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha. 

The Socceroos finished top of their group in the previous round and made a winning start to the third qualifying stage thanks to goals from Awer Mabil, Martin Boyle and substitute Mitchell Duke. 

China had won their previous four qualifiers and managed to restrict their opponents to minimal opportunities in the opening quarter of the contest on neutral territory. 

But Mabil acrobatically volleyed home to give Australia the breakthrough – the goal allowed to stand despite a high boot from the winger – and Boyle fired in a second from the edge of the box less than two min…